Tears To Tiara (Blu-Ray)

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All Rise...

Proudly wearing his tiara, Judge Steve Power sheds tears of joy.

The Charge

Before you resurrect a Demon King, make sure he's going to be on your
side!

Opening Statement

It's been quite a while since I've sunk my teeth into a decent fantasy
series. For a while in the early '90s, you couldn't chuck a rock at an Otaku
convention without hitting a fansub of Slayers or Record of Lodoss War. Then
the worldwide Dungeons and Dragons boom ended, and with that, fantasy
output slowed to a trickle. There have been a handful of worthwhile efforts over
the years, most notably the goofy but fun Tower of Druaga, and now comes
Tears to Tiara a mash up of fantasy tropes and old world mythology. Does
this one manage to satiate fantasy fans for 26 episodes? Or should you blow the
dust off of your old Lodoss War DVDs.

Facts of the Case

The hard fightin' people of the Gael Clan find themselves at odds with the
soldiers of the "Divine Empire" (read: Romans). The Empire is sweeping
across Europe, putting the heel to any civilization that will stand in their
way. When a Priest of the Empire resurrects the Demon King Arawn in an attempt
at world domination, the Demon King instead sides with the young Gael Clan
Priestess, Rhiannon, and her brother Arthur. As the new Chieftain of the Gael
Clan, Arawn then proceeds to assemble the army he will need to crush the Divine
Empire once and for all.

The Evidence

Tears to Tiara really shouldn't be good at all; based on a video game
for the Playstation 3 (and an "adult" video game for the PC if you
really must know) that never saw release outside of Japan, and featuring the
usual smattering of Elves, Humans, Dragons, swords and magic combined with the
typically quirky sense of humor that can only come from people who've played way
too much D&D; this one should join Slayers on the trash pile. By the second
episode however, something clicks, and the whole series becomes a pretty
endearing ride.

The plot, such as it is, draws inspiration from the history and mythology of
Dark Ages Europe; including elements of Celtic, Gaelic, British, and Roman
mythology; which gives the proceedings an air of familiarity. There's plenty of
well animated action to keep things moving as well.

The show's biggest strength is in its characters. Arthur (yes,
"that" Arthur) is a great, if stereotypical heroic lead, and the
supporting cast does a fine job of filling out the usual roles, from
"grizzled veteran" to "goofy female sidekick." Sure it's all
a big collective of anime cliché, but for what it is, it works surprisingly
well.

The character designs all look pretty creative as well (save for the bland
trench-coated Demon King Arawn), and the show looks great in motion thanks to
some fine work from studio White Fox.

This is my first experience with a Sentai Filmwork's Blu-ray, and they
certainly don't disappoint. The transfer looks great, with some minor color
banding undoubtedly carried over from the source material. The visuals are
clear, and vibrant, with no hint of ghosting or flickering. The show's excellent
voicework comes through pretty clearly, and the DTS master audio stereo track
pumps the show's excellent soundtrack through to great effect. The only extras
are the typical clean opening and closing animations, which is no surprise.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

The English dub is well-acted, the script is well translated, and the
decision to infuse the characters with all manner of accents is a daring one
that is to be commended. That said, as charming as I initially found the Celtic
accents, they do tend to get to you after half a dozen episodes or so. By that
time you've thrown some British into the mix as well, which helps.

Then there's King Arawn, the central character in the series, whose morose
line readings are rather dull compared to everyone else in the series. The
character has his reasons, but he feels kind of flat next to all of the Irish
and English accents parading around.

It's still a definite improvement on the Japanese language version, which is
of the "chattering goofball" variety.

Closing Statement

Above all else, Tears to Tiara is simply a fun action-fantasy romp.
The plot is just different enough to set itself apart from its anime peers, and
the production values are great. Sentai's Blu-ray presentation hits all the
right notes, and will make a fine addition to any anime fan's collection. On the
flipside, if you want your fantasy without a heavy dose of anime flavouring, you
may have to keep looking.